Stormy Weather
by AshtonJacks
Summary: Entry in Tona's fanfic challenge. Nikolas is obsessed with rebuilding the weather machine. The fallout from this threatens to destroy many lives, including a hevaily pregnant Carly Corinthos. Featuring the Spencers, Cassadines, Sonny, Carly, V, Ned, Andre


This story was started in Nov of 2000, but takes off in a whole different direction from the show. Nikolas is played by Tyler, Lucky by Jonathan and Carly by Sarah.  
  
The terms of the challenge are:  
Lucky & Nikolas built a prototype of the weather machine that Mikkos would have used....except something went just a bit wrong and it had nothing to do with the weather! Instead, the machine altered everyone's brain waves....now some very BIZARRE courtships have sprung up as a result. It's up to you to choose which characters have been effected the most by the glitch in the machine.   
Requirements:   
**You must have at least 2 bizarre couples (male/female pairings only please).   
**A large party must be involved at one point in your fiction. This can be a gala at the Qs, the Phantom Ball, the Nurse's Ball, whatever you decide.   
**Your story must include at least 2 of the following elements. These can just be mentioned or you can make them key parts to your story, but they must be included somewhere:   
**An unexpected death of a beloved character   
**A baby boy is born   
**Some one graduates college   
**A couple either has eloped or is eloping.   
**Some one gets a new career.   
**Some one is traveling for the holidays.   
**Your story must be 10 chapters or less. If you simply want to make it a one parter, that's great. Just write it and include all the parts above.   
  
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Prologue  
Jan 2001  
Wyndemere basements  
  
Lucky looked at the contraption that would change his life and kicked it experimentally. "What is it Nik?" he asked cautiously. His voice bounced off the walls of the narrow room and he shivered. "You know I hate these basements so why are we still here. The last time we did this we had a dead body with us and you know how that turned out." Adopting a cool pose, Lucky leaned against the cool stone of the wall, shivering as the coldness seeped into his veins. "You got all the stuff you dragged us down here to pick up for mom. Why she wants these old memories I'll never know."  
  
" She wants them because they're baby pictures of me, Lucky." Nik reminded in a pointed tone ."I don't know what it is." He replied slowly as he walked around the perimeter of the tarp filled shape. "But I intend to find out."  
  
"Nikolas this is hardly some game show. Just rip the thing off!" Lesley Lu exclaimed. The eighteen year old was thoroughly annoyed with the way her brothers were behaving. "Why all the mystery guys? Don't take this the wrong way but you two are the worst drama queens this side of South Beach! Stop prancing around and take action!"  
  
"Gee thanks Lulu." Lucky remarked sarcastically. He playfully pushed his older brother aside and pulled the canvas away from the shape.   
  
"What is it?" Lesley Lu asked as she stared at the pile of metal and blueprints. When neither of her brothers answered, she cautiously reached for a yellowed leather covered book and crossed the room to sit in an ornate albeit dusty chair. She looked up as her brothers laughed. "What? I'm trying to find out answers here!"  
  
"You're sitting in Mikkos chair. " Nikolas remarked with a smile.  
  
"I am?" Lulu's reaction was immediately. "Yuck, psychotic germs incoming." She jumped up and brushed frantically at her suede miniskirt, as she glared at her laughing brothers. "Enough from the peanut gallery. You guys look at the blueprints and I'll try to find things out here."  
  
Lucky and Nikolas both bent over the pile in confusion. What could all of this be? They unfolded the blueprint slowly and studied it together, lighter and darker heads nearly touching as they poured over the combined English and Greek script.   
  
"Any ideas what it is?" Lucky asked his brother after a few moments of intense concentration.  
  
"I....I think so." Nikolas' voice sounded strange to Lucky and Lu, commanding their full attention.   
  
"Well what is it?" Lu was quickly running out of patience. "This book is in some weird language so I have no clues."  
  
"It looks like the start of Mikkos' weather machine, or one of them. I understand he had a few in development when everything happened here in PC all those years ago. I know enough Greek to decipher that"  
  
"Are you serious?" Lucky gaped in shock as he looked at the pile of metal. "Amazing. Your uncle must have brought it over. He really idolized his old man didn't he? He could have chosen a million better role models."  
  
Nikolas winced. His Cassadine relatives were not up for discussion with his Spencer ones. Things had calmed down in the Spencer/Cassadine wars, and Nikolas had no desire to try to change the cease fire. He and Luke were actually getting along for goodness sake and he wasn't going to make things harder for his mother and sister by starting up tensions again. It was so hard to bite his lip, though, when his brother started with the sarcastic comments.  
  
"Drop it Lucky." Lu said into his ear. She could read Nikolas' expressions expertly and could see a problem brewing in his dark brown eyes. "Look guys, this has been really fascinating and all, but I have to go. Emily, Maxie and I are having a girl's day out.  
  
"Have fun Lu." Nikolas' smile never reached his eyes.  
  
"I will. You guys get out of here before too long. This place is creepsville in the best of the times and let's not even talk about the ghosties partying in the four corners of this room."  
  
"We won't stay long." Lucky promised, but he knew that his words were lost on Nikolas.   
  
"Love you guys." Lu gave Lucky an encouraging smile and inclined her head to Nik. "Dinner at Moms house tonight guys, don't flake out on her."  
  
"We won't" Nikolas whispered, making no comment as his sister disappeared into the gloom of the subterranean rooms.  
  
As soon as Lulu was gone, Lucky advanced on his brother. He didn't like Nikolas' vacant expression. "Snap out of it Nik." He said encouragingly then waved a hand in front of his brother's eyes. "What's happening inside your head? Lucky questioned when Nikolas blinked rapidly. "You're in another world, man."  
  
Nikolas nodded slowly. "I really am ok Lucky. Do you think...." He trailed off and looked away, flushing in embarrassment.  
  
"Do I think what?" Lucky's tone was one of confusion. Suddenly, awareness dawned and he shook his head rapidly. "No Nik, oh no, we're not, we can't try to build this thing!" when Nikolas just gave him an even glance, Lucky began pacing, his agitation evident in his body language.  
  
"Why not Lucky, These blueprints are flawless. We can just se if it could work. You're a genius with the computer parts...think of it as a challenge."  
  
"A challenge. He thinks freezing the world is a challenge! Are you sure some of Mikkos' psychosis isn't lurking below the level?" Lucky had no idea how much he sounded like his father. "We could inadvertently turn the entire city into popcicles Nik!"  
  
"But we won't Lucky." Nikolas explained patiently. "We'll barely even try it out. I can't explain why but I want to see this thing that cause my family to be destroyed. I have to see how it works."  
  
"You just said we wouldn't turn it on." Lucky's blue eyes blazed.  
  
"Not literally Lucky. I Just have to do this. I never knew any of them, because of this and because of what happened with the Ice Princess and the weather machine, Mom was taken and you know the story. I don't have to repeat it over and over again."  
  
"No you don't have to." Lucky reminded, then sighed. He knew he would help Nikolas on this one; brotherly loyalty meant that has only course of action would mean acquiescence to his brother's wishes. "Ok where do we start?" Lucky had an ominous feeling about this, but he knew what it was like to keep things unfinished. He would help his brother, much as Nikolas had helped him in the early days of his release from Fasion's clutches. He owed Nikolas in a big way.  
  
'Thanks Lucky, you won't regret this." Nikolas promised.  
  
"I hope not Nik."  
  
  
  
Prologue part II  
3 months later  
  
Lucky hurried into the laboratory at Wyndemere and threw off his jean jacket. The young men had set up shop in the guest cottage on the Cassadine property. Lucky looked around the gloomy space. It was plugged up tighter than anyplace else in PC including the jail. Black painted boards had been nailed to the windows, keeping out all light and prying eyes. The cottage was always armed with a state of the art alarm or a personal guard, most often Lulu. She was the only other person that knew about the weather machine or stormy weather as Lucky nicknamed it.   
  
He looked at the machine. An ugly contraption of circuitry and chrome, the humped form dominated much of the small cottage. Stormy had been Nikolas' obsession for months now and Lucky was really worried about him. There had been many a time where he had been convinced that if he pulled out of the project that it would destroy his brother. "Nik?" Lucky asked quietly. "How's it going?"  
  
Nikolas looked up wearily. As the project had come closer to completion, Nikolas' hours spent working on it had extended exponentially. Now, he barely slept and it showed. "Emily took Sheba out today." Lucky added. He desperately wanted to get the conversation on outward events for a brief moment and the mention of Nikolas' girlfriend usually garnered some comment.  
  
"Oh tell her thank you." Nikolas sighed and pushed his hair off his forehead. "We're almost ready to go here. Give me a couple of minutes...I've been waiting for you Lucky"  
  
"So soon?" Lucky asked in shock. He turned to their sister who just shrugged. Lulu had never liked the idea of the project and she wanted it completed as much as Lucky did. They had to get Nikolas to give up this crusade of his. It wasn't as if he could bring back his deceased family. "At least it will be over soon." He remarked in an offhand manner.  
  
"Over?" Nikolas turned to look at his brother. "Why is it over?" Confusion reigned over his features. This was only the beginning.   
  
"Nik we planned to build this thing, try it out then let it rest. What else is there to prove?" Lucky was getting more worried every moment.  
  
"We have to test it on different variables. We have to take it all over the place." Nikolas' voice had risen both in volume and in emotion until Lulu slipped an arm around his shoulder.   
  
"You and Lucky can discuss all of this later on." She said in a gentle tone as she led him to a chair. "Lucky why don't you turn it on. Nik we're ready to go, right?"  
  
Nikolas nodded slowly. "All ready." He said, aware that this moment would change all of their lives. "Lu?" He asked as he extended his hand to the younger woman. She clenched his hand tightly in her much smaller one.  
  
"Go ahead Lucky." Lu encouraged. This will be over soon, she chanted to herself. She was so tired of having her brothers absorbed by this project. It was changing Niklolas in ways she neither liked nor trusted. He seemed so much different now, so much older, as if working in such a solitary and stifled environment had made him revert slightly to the young man that had first arrived in Port Charles when she had been sick.  
  
"Here goes nothing." Lucky muttered as he flipped the switch that would change the courses of all of their lives.  
  
Prologue part III  
  
"What the hell was that?" Luke Spencer scanned the docks for a moment searching for the source of the explosion that had rent the air. When he spotted the ominous cloud of blue smoke coming from Spoon Island, his heart raced. Lucky, Lulu and Nikolas were spending a lot of time over there lately and this wasn't good at all. He jogged in the direction the island launch as he fumbled in his pocket for his cell phone.  
  
"I hate these things." Luke lost his grip on the piece of plastic and watched in shock as it slipped out of his fingers and into the half frozen Port Charles harbor. "Dammit my kids might be there!" His jog was nearly a full scale run; his eyes were riveted on the burning cottage in the distance.  
  
"Luke where was that explosion from?" Someone grabbed his arm. Luke instinctively shook the person off before she made a grab for his ear, pinching it furiously to get his attention.  
  
"What do you want? I don't have time for this?" Luke said in a rush, My kids.... and my phone." Panic had dulled his senses and reactions so it took a moment for him to acknowledge his very pregnant niece. "Oh its you sweet Caroline. Can I borrow your cell phone." He asked in a rush. He didn't slow down until a strong tug again on his ear forced him to a standstill.  
  
"Why do you need it?" Carly questioned. She and Sonny had been at the coffee warehouse when the ground had shook from the explosion. Uncertain if it was mob related, weather related or an act of God, Sonny had tried to pull his wife down. She had escaped him, and despite her advancing girth, had come out as soon as his guards had called the all clear, and had made her way the few feet to her uncle.  
  
"My kids." Luke gasped as he motioned to the island. "I don't have the time for this. Can I or can't I borrow your phone?"  
  
Carly turned in the direction he was pointing and nodded. "Are they over there?"  
  
"I don't know darlin' but I have to find out." He said as he rapidly punched buttons.  
  
"What happened?" Sonny had caught up with his speedy wife and he pulled her close, slipping her warm woolen coat around her. "And are you all right?"  
  
"I'm fine." Carly turned in his arms. "You worry far too much. Something happened over on Spook Island." She replied, using her uncle's pet name for Wyndemere. "And Lucky and Lu might be there."  
  
Sonny raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Oh." He said with a nod. He motioned to his guards and guided Carly in the direction of the warehouse. "Go back before you get chilled. Luke and I will investigate."  
  
Carly shook her head and stood her ground. "No way Sonny. They're my cousins and I'm investigating right alongside you." She just shrugged at his thunderous expression. "Anything Luke?" She asked as she received her phone back.  
  
"Lucky was due over there awhile ago." His voice was wooden. "And Lulu was planning on going over all day. I have to get over there now."  
  
"Come on." Sonny escorted the older man toward a waiting speedboat. Though their friendship had become strained in their recent past, they still enjoyed and respected each others company. Luke knew that Sonny would be a huge help to him.  
  
"Wait for me." Carly replied quickly as she followed the men along. It didn't look good and she wanted Luke to have family around, even if that family amounted to a wayward niece. As she stepped into the watercraft, she dialed her mother's house. "Momma it's me. There's been an accident and I need you...."  
  
Chapter 1  
  
"Lucky! Nikky!" Lulu screamed through the din of popping heat and smoke. She couldn't see a foot in front of her and the acrid smoke was burning her lungs. "Where are you guys?" She asked in panic before dissolving into a coughing fit. She had to get out of there now before her oxygen disappeared but there was no way she would leave without her siblings. "Come on Lucky, Nik where are you? We have to get out of here. Her words were taking up precious oxygen but she stood firm. She wasn't going anywhere without her brothers. She moved slowly, keeping low to the ground as she swept her hands along the ground. There! There was something.  
  
"Nik is that you?" Lulu asked as she started to pull the dead weight to the door. Moving was slow going as spots began to dance in front of the young girls' eyes. "Get up, Nikky. Get up please. Please be ok."   
  
Nikolas moaned low in his throat as gradual consciousness lifted the darkness that surrounded him. With awareness came another kind of darkness, all encompassing and dense, one that stole the very breath from his lungs as it surrounded him in its seductive embrace. It would be so easy to give himself to it, to surrender to the lure of the darkness.   
  
"Nikky." Lu whispered again." She could almost feel him giving up as the air grew thinner around them. "I can't get you out alone." Lu sobbed between hacking coughs that stole the very breath from her lungs. "And Lucky is still here. Please help me to get him out too."  
  
While Nikolas heard her words, they just didn't register. He was so very tired....  
  
"Lucky!" Lu screamed as panic took over. "I can't lose you two. I can't lose you both. Not you Lucky, not again..." She trailed off as her screams stole the breath from her lungs. She just couldn't go on without her beloved siblings. And she no longer had the strength anymore....  
  
~*~  
  
"Come on Sonny can't you make this thing go any faster?" Luke's hands were white as he gripped the side of the boat. He was tense, poised to leap off the small craft as soon as it slowed down. The flames were growing in intensity as Luke's trepidation and fear grew. He had to get to his kids now!  
  
"Luke we'll be there in a minute. Man, they'll be ok." Sonny said in a soft voice. "I promise you man, they'll make it." He turned to look at Carly who was white knuckled and staring at the flames as if mesmerized. "Carly who did you call?"  
  
"Bobbie." She whispered. No more words were necessary. She rubbed her stomach in a soothing motion as she tried to convey calmness to the life within.  
  
"When we land you stay far away from there." Sonny warned his wife. "The emergency operators will need information and that's what your job will be." Carly rolled her eyes at his protective attitude even as she realized the truth in his words. She wouldn't be much help to them waddling as she was and someone needed to tell the authorities how bad it was so that they could help, if help was what was required.  
  
"All right." Carly agreed quietly. She didn't like the way Sonny sometimes treated her like an invalid though she understood that he was just trying to protect her and their baby. "I don't like it Sonny but I understand."  
  
"Thank you." His whisper was a gentle caress wrapping her in warmth that buffeted the sharp bite of the wind and the cold dread of what would await them.  
  
As soon as the small craft touched the ice clogged sandy bottom of the lake, Luke leapt out and ran headlong toward the inferno that was the guest cottage. "Lucky! Lulu!"   
  
"Wenders what is going on here?" Stefan Cassadine had been studying his newspaper as the shuttle ferried him across the lake. His headphones had been entertaining him with the driven tones of Prokofiev's 'Romeo and Juliet'. He had not heard nor felt the explosion as it happened, but as the craft pulled closer to the intense heat, Stefan looked up at the surprising warmth and brightness.   
  
"Something is ablaze." Wenders said tightly. From the angle they approached the island, neither man could accurately tell the precise location of the blaze.  
  
"Call the authorities." Stefan said tightly, his newspaper and music forgotten. "Nikolas has been spending a lot of time on the island and he may be in danger." When Wenders moved to his cellular phone, Stefan made his way to the motor. He would get them back to the island and quickly. His heart raced as they accelerated. Nikolas had to be unharmed!  
  
As soon as they touched land, Stefan jumped off the small craft and hurried toward the area of heat and fire. He saw other people heading toward the structure, which revealed itself to be the guest cottage, the same place that Nikolas inhabited many hours a day. "Nikolas." The agonized cry was torn from his lips as he approached, following a man into the inferno.  
  
"Lucky, Lulu!" Luke repeated with every step, as if the mantra could keep his children safe. He touched the heated door of the structure. It had been blown out of its frame and Luke winced, imagining what a blow of that much force had done to his precious children. Thoughts were a precious commodity in an environment where the acrid smoke swirled around, stealing his orientation and breath.  
  
Luke moved in slowly and started covering the area closest to the door. Within moments, his foot encountered the yielding softness of flesh. It was a male; it had to be Lucky, he thought as he bent to pick the form up. Come on cowboy, his mind screamed as his body strained under the heavier load. When had Lucky become this heavy, Luke wondered as he staggered toward the door. In the gloom that had been a structure he saw another form pass by him and was thankful that Sonny would get Lulu out to safety before he had to go back inside.  
  
"Sonny you can't go in there." Carly said as she clutched her husbands arm. The blaze was horrific in its intensity.  
  
"I have to Carly." He said patiently. "I have to get Lulu. If Lucky's in there Lu could be too."  
  
"I can't lose you." She whispered in agony. "Please Sonny for me, for Michael, for us, it's too dangerous in there. I need you Sonny now because..."   
  
"I have to Carly." Though his words were gentle, he pulled his arm out of her tight grasp and hurried over to the burning building.  
  
"I'm in labor." Carly finished in a whisper as she sank to the ground cradling her stomach.  
  
  
"Nikolas where are you?" Stefan whispered. He senses rather than saw another man inside. Thankfully Wenders would help him to find Nikolas, he thought as the smoke forced him to his knees. He began reaching blindly ahead of him and almost sobbed with relief when he felt a young male arm. "Come Nikolas, I will get you out of this tomb." Stefan's rasp was feeling the effects of the smoke as he choked and gasped.  
  
Sonny saw Luke stagger out carrying a young man and he frowned. Even through the din of smoke, he knew that the body in Luke's arms was far too broad to be that of Lucky. That meant the boy was still inside along with Lulu. Sonny pulled his jacket over his mouth and entered the building. He immediately saw another hunched form lifting a body and headed off in the opposite direction. Either Lucky or Lulu needed to be saved and he would find them and do it. The fire was intense as the building began to finally consume itself. The snap and crackle of the burning timbers raised the level of noise to a roar, a roar that sent Sonny's brain pounding even before the smoke disoriented him. When he was out of breath he found her lying beside a contraption of chrome. "Lulu." Sonny whispered as he bent down to pick her up.  
  
Luke gently placed the still body on the ground then stared in stunned horror. Somehow he had brought prince Nikky to safety instead of his son. He whirled around, intending to check for Lucky when he saw someone with dirty blond hair being carried out in a man's arms. Sonny would take care of his son, he knew. He didn't even have to look higher to catch a glance at Sonny's expression.  
  
"Come on prince, you'll be ok." He placed a hand against the boy's throat. His pulse beat evenly and regularly. "You probably just breathed in a little too much smoke." Luke's assurances trailed off as he searched for Lulu. Where was she? "Nikolas I'll be right back." Luke said to the still form. "It'll be ok." He ruffled the young man's hair, not knowing why he was being so kind to his wife's other son. He raced back toward the slice of hell that burned incessantly. "Lulu!"  
  
"Spencer there is someone rescuing her." Stefan watched the man's frantic look. "You see to Lucky and I will to Nikolas." When Luke shook his head, Stefan gently lowered the young man to the ground and grabbed Luke's arm. "The heat is too intense, you cannot help her and will just kill yourself."  
  
"Let me go." Luke growled, knowing he sounded more like a wounded animal then a Cassadine adversary. "Lulu!" he called out as he pulled his arm free. Stefan stood for a moment as Luke pulled free then shook his head with a perceptible sigh.   
  
"Wait for me Spencer." He said in a heavy tone. Lucky's breathing was raspy but untroubled and it would be safe to leave him.  
  
"Why I don't need your help." Luke shot back.  
  
"Perhaps." Stefan replied dryly. "But your daughter needs all the help we can muster so put your pride aside Spencer."  
  
Luke glared at the Cassadine. He hated that he could see the truth in the other man's words but sighed. His daughter's life was of utmost importance right now.   
  
"There is a window around the other side. We will need to work together to get inside, but I have no doubt that we could get to your daughter that way."  
  
"Lead on." Luke said in a tense tone, rushing after the other man. Neither saw Carly crouched nearly the shoreline. Neither heard her breathless moans of pain as she tried to contain the life within her as she searched for her husband.  
  
"Sonny I need you." Carly whispered. The doctors had warned her weeks ago that her body was preparing itself for an early labor, but they hadn't expected it to happen so soon. "MY baby." Carly whispered. She reached back to telephone 911 again, but could not locate her purse or cell phone. "OK Carly." She said to herself as if summoning courage. "You may have to do this yourself. First, try to get back in the boat. You don't want to deliver your kid here on the ground.  
  
With supreme effort, Carly managed to ease herself into the small powerboat. She settled back against one of the benches as a contraction ripped through her. She looked up into the sky, avoiding the smoke that billowed out turning the blue to an angry gray. Even though she didn't believe in God, she prayed. "If you're around I need some help. Save my baby and save my husband. Michael needs him, the new baby will need him." Tears pricked her eyes and flowed unchecked down her face. She took a deep breath, grateful that the next contraction hadn't yet hit.   
  
  
Stefan wrenched the window open, headless of the pain that ripped into his palms and the blood that dropped down his hands. "Get her Spencer, she's right there." Lulu was slumped very close to the window, near a hump in front of a chrome machine.   
  
"Who is that with her?" Luke asked when suddenly it occurred to him. "Sonny!" He lifted Lulu up tenderly and started to hand her over to Stefan, who had materialized by his side. "Get him out Cassadine."  
  
Stefan moved to Sonny just as a huge crash brought portions of the roof down. "Get her out." Stefan managed as he motioned Luke and Lulu toward the window. "I will get Mr. Corinthos out." Those were his last words as a large part of the wall came down, separating Luke and Lulu from his enemy and friend with a wall of fire.  
  
It was so peaceful in the boat, Carly realized as she watched the sky change slowly. The smoke seemed to be clearing up and the lapping of waves as the boat moved was hypnotic. Boat moving? Carly tried desperately to sit up, but another contraction ripped through her followed by a burning pain. "Oh God I have to push." she cried out in a panic. "I'm all alone, I'm adrift and I have to push!"  
  
Chapter 2  
  
"Who is that with her?" Luke asked when suddenly it occurred to him. "Sonny!" He lifted Lulu up tenderly and started to hand her over to Stefan, who had materialized by his side. "Get him out Cassadine."  
  
Stefan moved to Sonny just as a huge crash brought portions of the roof down. "Get her out." Stefan managed as he motioned Luke and Lulu toward the window. "I will get Mr. Corinthos out." Those were his last words as a large part of the wall came down, separating Luke and Lulu from his enemy and friend with a wall of fire.  
  
"DADDY!" Lulu stirred as fresh air caressed her smoky lungs. Unable to see, she latched onto the familiar and safe voice of her father. She couldn't see who held her and could barely hear over the roar of the consuming fire but she knew her father was there and in danger. "Daddy!" She tried again, weakly as the smoke overtook the sparse clean air. "Don't die."  
  
Luke instinctively pulled Lulu closer as he navigated the burning area. The smoke stole the breath from his lungs and his vision became hazy as he gasped. The few steps top the window were walking agony. Finally out of breath from the effort, he leaned against the smoldering window frame. "Just a little more darlin." In the gloom Luke couldn't even tell if Lulu was injured or not.  
  
Lulu saw freedom with the open window and heaved herself out. The wheeze in Luke's tone frightened her. They all had to be ok; they just had to! "Come on daddy. Get out and then we'll find Lucky and Nikky." Unable to stand and exhausted from her small efforts, Lulu curled up into the ground and hoped that her father wouldn't land on her.   
  
Luke looked back, sensing that Stefan was moving Sonny. Hearing was impossible and seeing even worse so he had to rely on his still sharp instincts and Cassadine radar. With one final hesitation he clamored out the window and onto the ground beside Lulu.  
  
"It's ok babydoll." Luke said in a tender tone as he scooped his youngest child up and carried her to safety.  
  
"Nikky....Lucky."  
  
"They're both out babydoll. They'll both be ok." I hope, Luke added silently as he set his lips in a grim line. They had to be ok; he wouldn't accept anything else. He rested a moment before easing Lulu over so that she was lying next to Lucky.  
  
LU turned to look at her brother. "OH My God he's dead!" She said between wheezed. "Daddy Nikolas killed him!"  
  
~*~  
  
It was so peaceful in the boat, Carly realized as she watched the sky change slowly. The smoke seemed to be clearing up and the lapping of waves as the boat moved was hypnotic. Boat moving? Carly tried desperately to sit up, but another contraction ripped through her followed by a burning pain. "Oh God I have to push." she cried out in a panic. "I'm all alone, I'm adrift and I have to push!"  
  
She moaned as tears ran down her face. If this hadn't been quite so tense she would have laughed at the irony. Mr. Protective father of the year wasn't with her at the pivotal point of their child's life. "Sonny I need you!" Carly screamed in frustration. Burning pain ripped into her abdomen and the feeling to push almost overcame her. "I can't not yet. I can't deliver this baby all alone." She said desperately.  
  
"You're not alone." A gentle voice seemed to appear out of nowhere.  
  
"Carly closed her eyes all the tighter. She knew that she was hallucinating and had created this man out of her fear and desperation.   
  
"Oh God." She whimpered. "The baby is coming and I can't stop it."  
  
"I know." The gentle voice caressed her gently as he began to prepare the scene quickly. His cashmere overcoat came off and was placed along the rough-hewn planks of the boat. He quickly removed the restrictive clothing that covered her lower body.  
  
"I am far from an expert but I have done this before." He assured  
  
"And the baby?" Carly asked. She was calmer now that she felt his touch. He was real, she could tell it in the callused hands that prepared her gently.   
  
"He died." The vulnerability in the man's voice forced her eyes open as panic hit.  
  
"You haven't done this successfully before!" Carly cried out as she tried to back away from his hands. They weren't gentle hands; they were killers' hands.  
  
"Slow down." The man commanded in a firm tone. "He was born healthy, but someone...." He trailed off, trying to stop the memories from washing over him.  
  
Flashback  
November 1981  
Cassadine Winter Retreat, Switzerland  
  
"Ari I have to push?" Nineteen-year-old Natasha Davidovich looked up at her boyfriend helplessly as contractions ripped through her body.  
  
"I know." He said in a panic. "Where is the bloody doctor. We can't do this alone." He ran to the window and looked out. Snow was falling heavily, almost obliterating the view of the main chalet a hundred yards away.  
  
"I don't think a doctor is coming Ari." Natasha pointed out gently. " The snow is too severe and anyway do you really think Helena would send one to us? She hates me." She groaned and looked at her watch. "Ari, It's time. " Her voice calm, she tried to gather control.  
  
Ari gathered himself and kneeled between her legs. "All of the education in the world and I feel so inadequate. Natashsa, what if there are complications?"  
  
"It is too late to worry about that Ari." Natasha said desperately. "Please help me. We haven't the time for indecisiveness."  
  
Ari nodded and bent to the task. His movements instinctive, he was helped along by Natasha's body. Soon, a beautiful pink baby was born. As he slipped them little boy into his mother's arms, Ari saw shadows approaching the small cottage.  
  
"We will name him Alekzander." Natasha said quietly before a half dozen figures burst in. They restrained Ari easily.  
  
"What are you doing?" the sixteen year old cried, even though he already knew. They were taking away the life he and Natasha had created and he was helpless! "Please." Ari begged. "I will leave now with him and never contact the family. I will disappear."  
  
"Impossible darling." The cool blond materialized soundlessly at his size. "Because as of this moment you are in my service. You will attend my every need."  
  
Ari shook his head in denial. "I won't."  
  
Helena ran a hand over his face gently. "You will.' She assured. She snapped her fingers and one of her most burly guards materialized at her side.  
  
"Yes Madam?"  
  
"Execute the Andropolis family." She said coldly. "Use Andreas and Venus most savagely." As Ari paled, she gave him her most innocent smile. "Are you having a change of heart darling."  
  
Ari looked helplessly at Natasha and nodded. "Just please do not hurt my family." The pressure was immense and Ari was sure he would soon lose control.  
  
Helena smiled in her most feral way as she waved the guard off. "All right, but you have tried my patience young man and for that, the child must die."  
  
"NO!" Natasha's scream had chilled his soul. He watched helplessly as the guards had bound him hand and foot and secured Natasha to her bed.   
  
"You have tonight to think about your actions." Helena said before leaving. "Do not try to find the child. His life will end as soon as we step out of the cottage."  
  
End Flashback  
  
"Someone what?" Carly repeated for the third time. The man was so far away from the present that it scared her. The baby was coming and she needed his concentration.  
  
Ari blinked a few times and dragged himself back to the present. "Someone killed my little boy." He whispered.  
  
"OH God." Carly whispered as she touched the stranger's hand. "I'm sorry."  
  
"Thanks." Ari said briefly with a small shudder. "Now, do you feel like you need to push."  
  
"Yes." Carly whispered. "I can't stop it."  
  
"All right" Ari said in his most soothing tone. After some moments, he looked into the blond woman's eyes. "He's crowning. You can push now."  
  
With a great scream Carly brought new life into the world. As the baby's thin wail cut through the bitter cold of the day, tears coursed down her face. She knew the immediate future was uncertain but anything would be possible if she had her precious angel. "Is it ok?" she asked hurriedly. She was barely aware of the man's movements until he slipped a wrapped bundle in her arms.  
  
"You have a little boy and he's fine." Ari said with a small smile. "I need to get you situated so that I can row you back to the mainland. We should have a doctor take a look at you and the baby."  
  
Carly looked at Wyndamere for a long moment before nodding. While her husband's safety was very important to her, her baby was helpless against the bitter winds. She cradled the baby close as she studied the man that had helped her so much. She had seen him around tow but she didn't even know his name.  
  
"What was your son's name?" She asked as she held her son close. She would name her child after his lost one in a tribute to him. Without him, her baby would surely have died.  
  
"His name was Alekzander, Alekzander Andreas Andropolis."  
  
~*~  
Venus Ardanowski looked nervously at the dark wood of the penthouse door. She had left town so abruptly with Simon. That had been a pure unmitigated disaster. She knew that Alexis and Jax no longer lived there, but she wanted to feel some connection for the people she had once loved. Everything had changed. Simon had told her with great satisfaction that Chloe and Ned and Alexis and Jax's marriages had been shams.  
  
The bite of that betrayal still kissed her soul. How could they have done that to her? Her best friends had deceived her so deeply and so completely that she could never feel the same way about them again. Well, no she could learn to forgive Ned and Alexis, but never Jax and Chloe. Maybe she wrongly placed the blame, but she knew in her heart that Chloe's arrival was the catalyst for all the changes.  
  
She took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly before raising her hand to knock on the door. As she moved her hand to rap on the wood, the door suddenly opened and she found herself knocking against a strong muscular chest.  
  
"Ned!" V took an involuntary step backward as she looked into his familiar and friendly face. He looked different with chunky sideburns and a strip of hair under his chin.  
  
Ned stared at the redhead in shock for a few moments. "V is that really you?" The clingy deep green dress fit her like a glove, accentuating her figure and russet hair. She had the look he had come to appreciate in Monte Carlo. V looked like a society wife and a gorgeous one at that.   
  
"Yes it's me." V said in a low breathy voice. "I'm back for good and I wanted to check in." Her voice had cooled slightly. Even though she felt Ned and Alexis were less to blame, she couldn't get past the fact that they had deceived her.  
  
"What happened to Simon?" Ned started to slip an arm around her shoulder only to back off when V put up a restraining hand. This new V confused him.... she wasn't as transparent as she had been before leaving Port Charles.  
  
"He's gone. He ran off with Jax's true love Chloe." V's voice was bitter as she recalled the stabbing pain of the moment when she had found them in bed together. "I guess Jax wasn't as unforgettable as I heard he was to her."  
  
Ned smiled sardonically. This new development didn't surprise him in the least. "She left town just before Christmas to find Jax." He observed.  
  
"And she was with Simon last April." V put in. "They were in Milan together. That's where he told me that he and Chloe had been an item. They got together for good around Christmas so I hear." She shrugged and tried to look disinterested. "I haven't been with him since April. I tried to tell Jax but he wouldn't listen."  
  
"I bet." Ned said quietly. He took a deep breath then offered his hand shyly. "Could we talk about this over drinks at the Grille?"  
  
V looked at his hand for a long moment. Though she didn't want the level of involvement that she had once had with Ned and company, a casual friendship would be all right. She would just have to guard her heart against him and his deceptive friends. "All right that sounds good." V decided. "And maybe if you're nice enough I'll let you treat me to dinner."  
  
Ned couldn't stop the grin that appeared. Little mousy V certainly had changed! "So what brings you to town?"  
  
V sighed and looked at him for a long moment before answering. Did she want to tell him? She shrugged a little as she made her decision. "I've come here to get to know my family Ned. I was adopted and I found out who my family is."  
  
Ned's eyes widened. He had never known that she was seeking her family. "Oh? Anyone I know?"  
  
"Oh yes." V nodded with a small smile. "Someone you know very well."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



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